2019 TR First Baptist Christmas Musical

Long before the hills of Bethlehem echoed with the sound of angels singing, long before shepherds left their flocks to find a baby in a manger, the prophet

Isaiah had foretold the miracle that would happen. He said, Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name

Immanuel. Every song we sing about his birth celebrates the name that means

God with us. After a silence that lasted 400 years, it was a baby's cry from a manger that announced that heaven had sent help to all who would receive it.

The long -promised Holy One of God had come to be our hope and our Messiah.

The angel told the shepherds, A Savior has been born for you in David's city.

You'll find him wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger. The world desperately needed saving then, and it still does.

So the word Savior has moved hearts down through the centuries. In the early 1800s, a priest made it the refrain of a tender carol when he wrote,

Christ, the Savior is born, Christ, the Savior is born. Jesus said,

I am the way, the truth, and the life. He's the door, the gate, and the living water.

The light of Judah, the Lamb of God, and the light of the world. Our great high priest and the good shepherd.

He's the Word made flesh, and ultimately, King of kings and Lord of lords.

The message of the angel to the shepherds hasn't changed. A Savior has been born for us.

We only need to fall in worship before him, trusting and receiving Jesus as Lord and King.

Is there a sweeter name to the believer's ear than the name of Jesus? It's comfort and healing, glory and majesty.

We sing it in praise, and we whisper it in reverence. It's the name we lift up today, and the one we'll worship forever.

Every Christmas is an opportunity to remember what happened that night long ago.

But when the season ends, when the day has passed, when the decorations are stored away for another year, what we have because of Jesus, our

Messiah, burns as bright as ever. We can have peace with God because the newborn

King became the Lamb of Atonement. We can have eternity with him because the baby in the manger became the resurrection and the life.

His coming is a message of heaven's glory for everyone. When they were looking, searching diligently for a

Messiah, when he was right there in front of their eyes. From all of us, thank you so much for being here today to share your support for this wonderful crowd.